Valcea and Krim win top matches

After Zvezda had lost one point at home against Itxako, the surprising results of matchday 3 of Women's Champions League continued on Sunday: Krim beat Hypo with a nine goal difference, title holder Viborg lost in Koprivnica and FCK was defeated on home soil by Podgorica. Like Krim, Larvik and Valcea (after a victory in the top match against Györ) remain spotless and have best chances to reach the main round. Aalborg, Trondheim and Buducnost took their first victories, no team is without a point after three matches – a signal for the equal groups.

Group A:

Podravka Koprivnica – Viborg HK 31:27 (13:15)

First defeat for the current title holder, big surprise by Podravka: Thanks to the twelve goals of outstanding Andreija Penezic, Koprivnica is back on track and have the same number of points (4) like Viborg. The Danes were leading at the break, but then lost their pace. At the score of 28:24, Koprivnica had pre decided the match, as Viborg wasn’t able to come closer again. Aside Penzic goalkeeper Jelcic was the matchwinner for the Croatians with 18 saves. Topscorers for Viborg were Skov and Mikkelsen with each six goals. Even worse as the defeat was the serious injury of Viborg’s goalkeeper Katarina Bralo. She will be out for six weeks after an open fracture of a finger.

Byasen HE – HC Leipzig 23:22 (16:10)

The 600 spectators attended a game with two completely different halves: As Trondheim dominated the first 30 minutes very clearly, the Norwegians were lucky at the final whistle, as Leipzig was the obviously better team after the break. Byasen could thank the goalposts, as HCL hit them 13 times in 60 minutes. For Byasen it were the first two points in this CL season, now they’re equal with the Germans. Trondheim was leading clearly up from minute 19 (12:7), but it only took 13 minutes, as Leipzig has nearly equalized at the score of 18:17. But the Germans couldn’t go in front, Byasen kept the one goal distance until the final whistle. Vigdis Harsaker scored the decisive goal for Trondheim. Topscorer for Leipzig was Norwegian Mette Ommundsen with eight goals, Iva Zamorska scored seven goals for Byasen.

Group B:

Krim Mercator – Hypo Niederösterreich 35:24 (16:12)

2300 spectators were highly impressed by the performance of the home team: With this clear victory over Hypo, Krim remain spotless and lead the table of group B with six points at “halftime” of the first group phase – as a little surprise. Krim dominated the match totally, Hypo didn’t have a glimpse of a chance and remain with only two points – it was the clearest defeat for the Austrians since years. Matchwinners for Krim were goalkeeper Stefanisin with 18 saves and topscorer Lekic with eight goals. Do Nascimento and Borges scored each five goals for Hypo that were maybe still in a state of shock after all the incidences of last week. After the 10:10 Krim took the lead and increased it to four goals at halftime and ten gaols after only 42 minutes. Latest then, the match had been decided.

Aalborg DH – Metz Handball 31:24 (17:12)

Aalborg can hope for the next round after their first victory in this season. The Danes were dominating the whole match against Metz that remain with only one point. Key to success for Aalborg was the defence.Even at the break the winner of the match was obvious, topscorer for the Danes was Louise Mortensen with seven goals, all scored by penalty shot, Oxana Pla scored six times for Metz.

Group C:

Oltchim Valcea – Györi Audi ETO 26:22 (13:13)

The arena was full, the atmosphere fantastic – and in the end Valcea celebrated an enormous important victory against their old rival from Györ. With now six points from three matches the Romanians are paving their way to the main round.Thanks to an superb first halftime of topscorer Cristina Neagu (seven goals), Oltchim kept close to strong starting Györ and equalized at the break. Then the Romanians paced up and took two well deserved points. Györ coach Csaba Konkoly: “We had expected a very hard game. After a good first halftime, we could not get closer to Oltchim, because our defence wasn’t strong enough. The match was decided by our mistakes.” Oltchim player Ramona Maier, who scored four goals, was glad: “We knew our opponent,because we played against them in the previous seasons. The victory was hard work for us, as it was an extremely difficult game. After this victory I’m certain that we are going to make it at least to the semifinals.” Topscorer for the Hungarians was Amorim with seven goals. Third ranked Györ remain with two points.

Group D:

Larvik HK – Dinamo Wolgograd 18:17 (8:9)

Three matches, three victories and spotless number one of the group after the first half of the first stage: Noboby could expected such a strong start of the Norwegian champion. But it was hard work to beat Wolgograd, again strong in defence in this high tensioned match lean of goals. Thanks to their strong last 15 minutes, Larvik won the game. Dinamo was in lead 14:10 in minute 45, but then Stange, Mörk and Löke turned the match with six consecutive goals in only seven minutes. “It was a terrible hard fight to get these two points”, LHK coach Karl Erik Böhn said: “Now we want to win at FCK to qualify next week for the main round.” For his team it was the first international match ever to score less than 20 goals – but in the end, 18 goals were enough. Topscorers were Mörk with six goals and Olga Levina for Wolgograd with seven goals.

FCK Handbold – Buducnost T-Mobile 22:25 (10:12)

FCK didn’t play the favourite role – neither in the match against Buducnost, nor in group D. After the second consecutive defeat the Danes are on the same point level as Buducnost and Wolgograd (each 2) now and will have to fight hard in the upcoming matches to reach the main round. The Montenegrinians showed a much better fighting spirit than FCK and took the points well deserved. The defence, until this match the best part of FCK matchplay, was weak against Podgorica allowing them easy goals. On the other hand Copenhague scored only 22 goals, not enough to beat Buducnost. After the intermediate result of 10:15, FCK had a lot of chances to turn the match, specially after equalizing at 16:16. But Buducnost played more effective in offence and led 21:18. Even as FCK came closer to 22:23 again in minute 56, the guests were the lucky ones in the end. Best player for Buducnost was Katarina Bulatovic with eight goals, specially the decisive ones in the final stage of the match. Amariei scored six times for FCK.